


Steps to the Top

by LadyPenn (i_write_a_lot)



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Bows, Gen, Guns, Spoilers for lots of things, Thor's Hammer - Freeform, but nothing major, prequel of sorts to Avengers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-02
Updated: 2013-07-02
Packaged: 2017-12-16 21:29:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/866813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_write_a_lot/pseuds/LadyPenn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint’s annoyed that someone keeps moving his bow towards the bottom rack, and is determined to make sure his bow gets the top position and stays there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Step One: Tell Your Handler

**Author's Note:**

> -I do not own the Avengers, Thor, Iron Man movies, or anything related to the fandom. This was written purely for my own enjoyment.   
> -I wanted to write a Clint fanfic. This is what popped out after watching the movie Thor last night for the first time.   
> -Any inaccuracies are mine, as I've not managed to gain a beta for this fic.   
> -This fic is completed with five parts.

“Someone put my bow in the wrong spot again,” Agent Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye, stated as he came into his handler’s-Special Agent Phil Coulson’s-office. Coulson didn’t even look up from his paperwork that he was signing on. 

“So you came to me about it?” Coulson asked, jotting something down on the sheet of white. Clint frowned. 

“I keep putting my bow on the top rack. Someone keeps moving it to the bottom. Why?” He asked, confused. 

“Perhaps because they feel that bows are inferior to guns?” Coulson suggested, shrugging. “What do you expect me to do about it?”

“I’d thought…” Clint began, and then cut himself off. “Never mind,” He corrected and at that Agent Coulson looked up just as Clint disappeared from the room. He didn’t bother searching for one of his top agents; he already had a hunch of what was going on even before it was going on. 

With a heavy sigh, he dragged out a new form, and began writing it out for Director Fury to sign.  
\--


	2. Step Two: Watch and Learn

Clint went to the barracks via the roof of the building that they were in, as they were guarding the hammer like object stuck in the dirt. Almost every agent had tried to lift that hammer, and none had succeeded. 

He’d even tried it himself, when he was positive that no one was watching (he was wrong, two people had been watching him at the time, silently-and, admittedly, hopefully). He’d thought he’d felt something when trying to lift the hammer…a sense of…dignity and purpose. As though the hammer felt-apologetic-that he couldn’t lift it. He still felt rather bewildered about that, and wondered if he should talk to someone about it, though decided-reluctantly-against it. 

They’d probably think him crazy-

At last! Movement! Instead of the usual suspects entering the barracks, he saw a petite figure slide in through the door, and the figure paused at seeing his bow sitting at the top rack. Clint held his breath, waiting, fingers eager to do something but there was nothing to do but wait-

The petite figure reached forward, removed the gun from beneath his bow, and swapped both pieces, before grabbing a tiny gun for themselves, and then turning to leave. 

Just before leaving, he’d spotted the face of the agent-

And froze in shock. 

It had been none other than Agent Natasha Romanov.


	3. Step Three: Think Before Acting

He had thought that Agent Romanov was supposed to be somewhere in the Amazon Rain Forest, or maybe it was someplace else. The files were meant to be top secret, but it wasn’t that he never knew where she was, it was that she went all over the world constantly so that it was hard to keep track of what was current and what had occurred last week.

Why was she here? 

What could be so important that she would stay here, for longer than three weeks (the amount of time calculated due to whoever kept moving his bow down, which was obviously Agent Romanov), when there were bigger places and people to go and see?

Something was up. 

A sense of excitement, anticipation, and exhilaration shot through him at the mere thought-whatever was going to happen here, it was going to be big. He knew it was, because there wasn’t anywhere else that 

Agent Romanov would be if it went down like it was supposed to-whatever it was. 

But what was he supposed to do? 

Ignore the main instinct that said he should duck and run while he had the chance, obviously, but…

He then smiled as a thought came to him.

He could do what he’d originally went to Coulson about in the first place-

Getting whoever was messing with his bow to leave it alone…

For good.


	4. Step Four: Confront the Issue

It wasn’t hard to wait for the chance to strike out and get to the bottom of what was going on. 

At first, he thought he’d have to wait a long while, but then was distracted when a big strong nutcase decided to attack the base, and head straight towards the hammer-like thing in the ground. 

He’d not caught sight of the guy because it was dark and pouring down rain, with lightening cracking across the sky with what felt like every breath he’d taken. 

He’d made it to the bunker, and found-to his annoyance-that Agent Romanov had swapped his bow’s spot again, so he’d paused at the top rack, before moving his hands downward and selecting the bow, and quickly taking off once more. 

He’d watched interestedly as the guy managed to defeat every agent that tried to stop him. He was glad the guy didn’t wind up killing any of them-though by the looks of it several would be in the infirmary for long days to come-and he just kept on going. 

Later, after the whole ordeal was over, it turned out that the guy was actually a god called Thor from the planet Asgard. 

But that was another story. 

When the events finally ended, and Hawkeye was told to stand down, he went to the barracks, and had only just placed the bow back on the rack, when the door opened. He hastily hid behind the door, and watched as Agent Romanov stepped in, and paused at seeing where the bow was. 

He stepped out just as she reached her hand to touch the bow. 

“Don’t,” He said firmly, calmly, despite how tense he felt at the moment. She was dangerous, he knew, having encountered her a few times before in the past.

She turned, sharply, before relaxing at seeing him. A small, sly smile played across her face, even as she settled her gun on the bottom rack. 

“I was wondering if you would ever figure it out,” She told him, smirking. She looked beautiful, though he knew better than to say such a thing to her-she’d cut his throat out before he’d even finished the words, probably. Still, he could not help but think it. “Hello, Agent Barton. What did you think of Mr. Brawn and Hammer in there?” She asked, and he couldn’t help but chuckle at the name, even as his mind played over the man’s bitter face as he’d sunk down into the mud, just staring at the object as though everything he’d ever known been taken from him. 

She nodded, as though she’d just read his mind-and that was entirely likely-and said quietly, 

“Yes, I thought so too.” She paused, and added, “I only moved your bow because I wanted to see if you would figure out who was moving it.” 

He nodded, having suspected as much already. He also now understood why Coulson hadn’t done anything about it when he’d asked-because Coulson feared Agent Romanov just as much as every man that’s either   
heard of her or come across her. 

“Thank you for just moving it and not breaking it,” He told her, and she beamed at him. 

“You are quite entertaining, Agent Barton. Perhaps you and I could do a few missions together in the future?” She offered, and to those who didn’t know her-or of her-they might think that she was flirting with him. 

He smiled back. 

“Perhaps,” He agreed, and she made him pause as he’d reached to take his bow from the rack, just wanting to have it on hand in case the big guy decided to make a break for it from the interrogation room. “Agent Romanov?” He asked, suddenly curious, and she turned from him. “Did you try the hammer?” 

“I did,” She said, after a few long moments of silence. “It did not budge for me. I saw you try it.” 

He hesitated, and then said quietly, 

“I felt it,” 

She blinked at him, looking momentarily puzzled, and he explained, 

“It felt…apologetic…that it couldn’t move for me. Like it was waiting for someone else.” 

She frowned at him, and then shrugged. 

“Perhaps you should inform your handler. In the meantime, I think you should stay away from that hammer. It could only spell bad things for the one that wields it.” She said calmly, and he nodded, already having come to the same conclusion. 

“Well,” He said, holding the door open for her. “Would you like to catch up sometime? Maybe see a movie?” He asked, and then could’ve smacked himself for such a mindless question. 

She paused, and then said with a small smile, 

“I would like that, yes. I have not seen a movie in a long while.” 

He blinked, grinned, and followed her out of the barracks room, and towards Agent Coulson.


	5. Step Five: Move On

Sometimes after that, he’d find his bow on the bottom rack-a different spot of where he’d put it. He always knew, from then on, that it was Agent Romanov who’d done such a thing. He couldn’t figure out how he’d known, but he just knew. 

Time flew by, and they did approximately four missions together, before they wound up on the helicopter with Director Fury and Agent Coulson and a bunch of other people in order to form the Avengers. 

It was time to move on past the small issue of his bow being moved from where it had been in the barracks, to working with other strange people to help save the world.

One step at a time.

**Author's Note:**

> -Comments, Kudos, and stuff are much appreciated, and thank you for reading.


End file.
